Tottenham enter ‘massive’ fight for £45m midfielder in wake of Bentancur blow | OneFootball

Rodrigo Bentancur is back on the Spurs shelf

Tottenham are reportedly ‘exploring a deal’ for Manchester City star Kalvin Phillips in January after Rodrigo Bentancur’s latest injury blow.

Bentancur is set to be sidelined until February after Matty Cash’s tackle caused him to tear an ankle ligament in Spurs’ 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa last week.

Pape Matar Sarr and Yves Bissouma are also set to go on international duty with Senegal and Mali respectively in the new year, leaving Ange Postecoglou without his three top central midfielders.

Football Insider claim Spurs are therefore looking at Phillips as an option in January, though the report claims they face ‘massive competition’ for the England international, who has been told he is free to leave by City.

Newcastle have been heavily linked following Sandro Tonali’s betting ban and David Moyes is also said to be keen on luring the former Leeds star to West Ham, while there’s also interest from abroad with both Juventus and Bayern Munich said to be monitoring his situation.

Phillips, who is under contract until 2028, has made just five starts since his £45m from Leeds and has featured for just 215 minutes this season, is now thought to be open to a move away from the Etihad to secure more game time ahead of the European Championships in the summer.

“As a football player you always want to be playing,” Phillips said on international duty last month. “I want to be playing as much as possible, but I haven’t done that for a year-and-a-half. I always try and make sure I am ready for whatever comes. I want minutes, I want to go the Euros. We will see what happens.”

Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano recently confirmed that a January exit is likely.

“As we know, the situation is not quiet around Kalvin Phillips,” Romano said.

“He’s super professional, he’s a super nice guy, always very confident, always very quiet so he’s never creating any problems but the problem there is a technical problem.

“Kalvin Phillips needs to play, he’s saying that in public and in private even more.

“He needs to play football, he can’t always be on the bench, he wants to go to the Euros, he wants to be an important player for the English national team and for his club.

“At Manchester City, he’s almost never playing. In the summer he had many possibilities he decided to reject because he wanted to continue at City and fight for his place but now it’s almost November and he’s still never playing.

“So, the feeling of sources on both player and club is that in January it’s very likely that Kalvin Phillips will leave Manchester City to try a different experience.”